Apparatus for knitting



March 25, 1941. B. w. LERCH EI'AL APPARATUS FOR KNITTING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 7, 1940 //v v/v TOES B. WLEECH ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 25, 1941 'Iowson, Md., assignors to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of -New York A plication February '1, 1940, Serial No. 317,648

9 Claims.

This invention relates to an apparatus for knitting and more particularly to an apparatus for forming a knitted covering on a conductor.

. x In applying knitted coverings to different types of conductors, it is frequently desirable to change the closeness of the knitting or the amount of textile material applied for a given length of conductor without changing the speed ratios and other co-ordinated factors of the knitting apparatus.'

An object of the present invention is to provide a knitting apparatus wherein the closeness of knitting is independent of fixed characteristics of the apparatus. a

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a knitting machine is provided having a jack cylinder and needle cylinder having different numbers of slots with an offset connection between the jacks and needles.

A complete understanding of the invention may be had by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accom-' panying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary vertical section of a knitting head embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view of the needle head shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective detail view of a needle jack and portion of a needle; and

made by the apparatus.

The apparatus to which this invention is applicable is disclosed more in detail in the copending application of S. E. Brillhart application Serial No. 218,330, filed July 9, 1938, and only so much of the present apparatus is disclosed end of the cylinder carries a bearing support l5 1 in which the upper end of a hollow tubular shaft I6 is journaled in a ball bearing l'l. Shaft I6 has a pair of collars l8 and I9 mounted thereon at an angle and a pair of cams 2| and Ham journaled in ball bearings on the collars l8 and I9 respectively. The angles of the collars l8 or 19 are so disposed that the high points of the cams 2| and 22' are apart. The outer needle cylinder will be made.

Fig. 4 is a development of a knitted pattern The needle jacks have butts H peripheries of the cams 2| and 22 are provided with projections or teeth which engage with similar projections or teeth on the needle jack butts to reciprocate the needle jacks. The upper end of the knitting head is provided with a. needle cylinder 25. having slots 26 therein in which the needles 21 may be reciprocated. The upper ends of the needle jacks are bifurcated and engage projections or butts 28 on the needles to reciprocateth e needles.

In applying knitted coverings to different types of conductors it is frequently desirable to vary the closeness of the knitting or, .in other words, to vary the number of wales for a given length of conductor. This varies the amount of textile material applied to a given length of conductor. Referring, for instance, to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the jack cylinder 6 shown therein is provided with eighteen slots, and for one particular type of knitted covering itmay be'desirable to use eighteen needles and seven stationary thread supplies arranged about the cylinder. If, then, the shaft l6 carrying the cams 2| and 22 is rotated four and one-half times as fast as the needle cylinder, a knitted pattern of eighteen wales per revolution of the If, now, it is desired to make a less closely knit covering and provide only fourteen wales per revolution of the needle cylinder, four of the needles may be omitted. The pattern made by thus omitting the needles, however, will be rough and nonuniform due to .the unequal spacing of the needles.

A smooth and uniform pattern may be made by providing a needle cylinder 25 having fourteen uniformly spaced needle slots and providing needle jacks having an offset portion, as shown in Fig. 3. Referring to Fig. 2, for instance, a jack cylinder 6 is shown having eighteen slots for needle jacks, and a needle cylinder 25 is shown having fourteen uniformly spaced slots. Needle jacks are omitted from the slots numbered 4, 8, 14 and 15, and the needle jacks are bent or shaped in such a way that the nonuniformly distributed needle jacks engage the uniformly, spaced needles. the slots 5, 9, 13 and 1'7 are blank. Needles 1, 3,- 6, 9 and 12 are actuated by the cam 2|, and needles 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 and 14 are actuated by cam 22. Thus when the shaft I6 is rotated four and one-half times as fast as the knitting head, a pattern such as shown in Fig. 4 is made. In this pattern seven stationary thread supplies are shown indicated by the numerals 1 to 7,

In this arrangement shown horizontally above the pattern, and the wales formed by needles 1 to 14 are shown vertically on the left side of the pattern. It will be evident from this that fourteen wales are made for each revolution of the knitting head, whereas if eighteen needles were used, there would be eighteen wales per revolution of the cylinder and therefore a less closely knitted pattern using less textile material will result when only fourteen needles are used.

It will be understood that the nature and embodiment of the invention herein described is merely illustrative and that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is: 1. In a knitting machine, a plurality of thread supplies, a needle cylinder, a plurality of needles uniformly spaced circumferentially on said cylinder and reciprocable thereon, a jack cylinder, a plurality of jacks for actuating said needles non-uniformly spaced on said jack cylinder, means for rotating said cylinders, and means for actuating said jacks in timed relation to the rotation of said cylinders to form a knitted fabric.

2. In a knitting machine, a needle cylinder, a needle reciprocable thereon, a jack cylinder, and a jack for actuating said needle reciprocably mounted on the jack cylinder out of alignment with said needle, said jack having a circumferentially offset portion so as to engage the needle,

3. In a knitting machine, a needle bed having evenly spaced needles mounted thereon, a jack bed having unevenly spaced jacks mounted thereon, said unevenly spaced jacks being shaped to engage said evenly spaced needles, and means for actuating said needles through said-jacks to form a knitted fabric.

4. In a knitting machine, a needle cylinder, a plurality ofneedles provided with butts, a jack cylinder, a plurality of jacks having means for engaging the needle butts, said needles being uniformly spaced about the needle cylinder, said jacks non-uniformly spaced, and means for actuating said jacks to form a. knitted fabric.

5. In a knitting machine, a needle cylinder, a plurality of needles uniformly spaced mounted thereon, a jack cylinder having uniformly spaced slots therein, the number of slots in the jack cylinder being greater than the number of needles, a plurality of jacks equal to the number of needles in said slots, and means for actuating the jacks to cause the needles to form a knitted fabric.

6. In a knitting machine, a jack cylinder having a plurality of evenly spaced slots, a needle cylinder having a lesser number of slots, a needle reciprocable in each of said needle cylinder slots, jacks reciprocable in as many slots in the jack cylinder as there are needles, said jacks being shaped to engage said needles, and means for actuating said jacks to cause the needles to form a symmetrical knitted fabric.

7. In a knitting machine, a needle cylinder having a plurality of needles, a pair of cam elements having their high points apart, and a plurality of jacks engaging said needles at one end and at the other end engaging said cam elements at unequally spaced points to cause the needles to 'knit a symmetrical fabric.

8. In a knitting machine, a plurality of knitting needles, a cam element and needle jacks interconnecting sai'cl cam element and needles, some of said jacks having one end out of circumferential alignment with the other to engage the cam element at points to produce a symmetrical knitted fabric.

9. In a knitting machine, a plurality of evenly spaced needles, a cam element for actuating a portion of said needles, a second cam element for actuating the remainder of said needles, and a plurality of jacks engaging said evenly spaced needles at one end and at the other end engaging the cam elements at unevenly spaced points to form a symmetrical knitted fabric.

BROOKE W. LERCH. CLYDE N. STOVER. 

